Saturday, May 30, 2009

so many books, so little shelf space

OK, I have 7 bookcases with 8 shelves each and yet I am out of shelf space. I've gotten a bunch of free books to review lately which I love, but my goodness they start to pile up. In fact, at the moment, there are lots of piles of books all over my living room. I need another bookcase, but I'm not sure where to put one as I am completely out of space. I also need to purge books from the shelves but am terrified to begin such a project because it will lead to house chaos and I can't face that right now.

I don't know though- I really am beginning to think the books are reproducing somehow when I'm not looking...

Monday, May 4, 2009

Have Passport, Will Travel: A Meme

I wanted this to be an illustrated meme, but my scanner doesn't work with Vista and I didn't want to boot up my old laptop tonight. Maybe in the future...

First trip you remember:
Tralee, County Kerry (Ireland). My mom and I were living in Dublin, and we went to the seaside with family. It was cold and rainy (not unusual in Ireland) but I insisted we had to make sandcastles. I was a well-loved child- we sat on the beach in windbreakers in the rain making sandcastles. I was probably about four, but I remember that day and the donkey cart ride a couple of days later- I was allergic to the hay and I still don't like donkeys.

First trip you took by yourself:
My first solo flight was to VT when I was 14; my best friend's mom moved her family up there from DC and I went up for a couple of weeks at the end of the summer. My first completely solo trip was to Austria my junior year of college. I went to Paris with friends, then separated- I took the train to Vienna, saw Salzburg and Innsbruck, then made it back into France on the last train to enter before a massive railway strike.

First out-of-state (-province) trip as an adult:
If I define adult as over 18, then my first out of state trip was to the Delaware shore for beach week after I graduated from high school. If I define adult as out-of-college-and-working, my first out of state trip was to NYC to visit my then boyfriend. My first out-of-country trip as a post-college adult was my move to Barbados with the State Dept.

Most humiliating travel experience:
I was embarrassed when I got my mom and I thrown off the tour at the Tower of London for proclaiming the innocence of the Princes in the Tower, but my mom just laughed and told me we were better off not sticking with an ignorant tour guide. Heck, a few people left with us because they preferred my running commentary on the Tudors (I was a serious history nerd back then).

On that college trip to Paris I was humiliated by a fellow American at the Louvre who stood in front of the Mona Lisa and loudy proclaimed "You think he could have made it bigger!" You could see everyone around her take one step away...

Possibly best hour:
hmmm...this is really hard. One standout moment was from that college trip to Europe. When my train arrived in Paris, the Metro was on strike so I had to walk around the city. I hit the Eiffel Tower at the same time as a movie crew that pumped the area full of fake fog and made for some magical pictures.

Another standout moment comes from Kuwait of all places. One of the Army tankers I hung out with took a friend and I out into the desert to watch a meteor shower. It was completely dark out in the desert and we laid on the car and watched the stars and when the meteor shower began, I knew it was one of those moments I wanted to keep inside me forever.

Moment that most would have been improved by someone who could pick up a cue:
I can't think of one of these, so I'm going to add in Mella's addition instead.

Travel story most likely to cause the eavesdroppers at the next table to do a double-take:
"I was standing there at Irish immigration, flipping though passports to find the right one..."